FILMS FROM HIROSHIMA + BACKGROUND TO DANGER (1943)

This frightening, but fascinating film, was put together by the US Army in 1945, only a few months after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August of that year. The purpose of the film was to record the effects the bomb had on the infrastructure and people of the city and the pictures you will see are made all the more shocking and horrifying by the business-as-usual tone of the narrator of the film. Overall, the picture quality is very good and, for the most part, so is the sound (though there are moments where it is difficult to hear). One of the more ironic moments of the film is the interview with the German Jesuit priest who was in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing. When he is asked about the "rumor" of possible lingering radiation effects, he replies that he doesn't believe there is or will be any as he hasn't seen anything out of the ordinary since the dropping of the bomb. (about 31 mins. long).